With just hours to go before a midnight deadline to avert a federal government shutdown, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Monday was poised to reject a funding measure that would delay reforms promised in the 2010 healthcare overhaul.

Senior Senate Democratic aides said the chamber would take a simple majority vote shortly after 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) that would strip Republican amendments and send a “clean” funding bill back to the House of Representatives.

The move tosses a political hot potato back to Republican House Speaker John Boehner, leaving him a choice of whether to accept it and keep government agencies funded or try another move to rein in President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

The latter action would all but assure at least a brief shutdown, because the Senate would likely run out of time to respond before the October 1 start of the new fiscal year.